While the sun does not stand still

First, I've been mulling over the issue of abortion. It saddens me in a general sense that so many people are making the common-enough mistake of the Right, that of allowing their opponents to define the terms and arguments and trying to argue back. We shouldn't have let them set up the premise that it's us v. them, the baby-lovers v. the women-supporters, because then all we can do is lamely try to argue that, well, a baby's life should be more important than a woman's convenience, the matter of life having been sufficiently drawn into question as to muddy the waters on that score. But more importantly, we have failed as Christians to communicate God's love effectively. Yes, it's true that God loves all His creatures, and that we should protect the innocent by championing the cause of the babies. But that stops far short of agape love. Shouldn't we express the love that God surely feels by pointing out that we love women too, and that's why we want to protect them? Making them the enemy ('baby-killers') is wrong, as is any wholesale condemnation of fellow sinners who could also be saved by grace, but it's also politically stupid. What we need to do as policy-makers and conservatives is to redefine the playing field to extend our championship to the women in these situations, as Christians should surely be doing. Actually, you can see this in the private sector in the form of pregnancy care centers, but that attitude needs to be pursued in the realm of public policy. So when the charge comes up that we are just agitating about the fetus and don't care about the woman, we need to be able to reply, 'No, we do care about women, which is why we are calling you accountable for this terrible exploitation of women and the incredible cover-up. You are not interested in helping women, you are interested in prolonging policies that will enrich your cause, and you know that there's big money in the abortion industry. You know that abortions do not help women, and it's because we care about them and want to protect them from the proven physical and emotional consequences of this terrible experience that we want to help them.' Then we should call their bluff. If all they really care about is helping women, then turn the abortion industry into a non-profit and see how long these passionate doctors and policy-makers will cling to their chosen charity if there's no money in it. Are they really doing it out of the goodness of their heart? Of course not.

Second....oh, bother, I've forgotten the second thing. I know there were two things I was mulling about...can't remember it now.

Well, anyway, it's been a busy week. Last night I was on the way to bed when I noticed Michael studying a spider which had built a web between two stalks of gladioli I had brought inside. It was pretty neat, actually, to see how quickly the spider had constructed his parlour, even though I detest spiders. Michael fetched an ant, and threw it at the web, and we both watched as the spider scampered over and tied up its victim. This was so fascinating that I ran off and caught an ant too, and this time Michael got a magnifying glass so we could see in detail how quickly the spider worked, spinning its victim around and around as it threw more web over it and produced a tightly-trussed ant in no time at all. Really amazing. And if I had noticed the spiderweb first, I would have shuddered and thrown out the flowers! Things like this convince me anew what a great father Michael is going to be to our lucky kids.

Random thought: I detest the phrase 'Just a gleam in his father's eye.' Why shouldn't a mother's eye gleam, too? Ugh. I hate stereotypes.